


knit happens

by imposterhuman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Boys In Love, Bucky Barnes Knits, Bucky Feels, But mostly fluff!, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Knitting, M/M, Soft Bucky Barnes, Tony Feels, Tony has a heart, Well - Freeform, bucky has a heart, he tries to, ok yes we can theres a little bit here, soft tony stark, we cant have angst on christmas!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21765607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: Bucky didn’t consider himself particularly murderous (anymore), but if one more person asked what he was doing, he was going to shove a knitting needle through their eye.Maybe both eyes, if they were irritating enough.It wasn’t his fault that HYDRA didn’t teach its assassins how to knit. Bucky added it to his list of reasons to hate them as he tried to untangle another snarled knot of yarn. He wasn’t sure how he’d screwed it up that time; all he knew was that if he didn’t figure it out soon, he wouldn’t be able to give the scarf to Tony for Christmas.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 364





	knit happens

**Author's Note:**

> im home sick from school with the flu from hell so i typed this up in between long naps
> 
> title is because bad puns get me through sick days
> 
> enjoy!!

Bucky didn’t consider himself particularly murderous (anymore), but if one more person asked what he was doing, he was going to shove a knitting needle through their eye.

Maybe both eyes, if they were irritating enough.

It wasn’t his fault that HYDRA didn’t teach its assassins how to knit. Bucky added it to his list of reasons to hate them as he tried to untangle another snarled knot of yarn. He wasn’t sure how he’d screwed it up that time; all he knew was that if he didn’t figure it out soon, he wouldn’t be able to give the scarf to Tony for Christmas.

He’d thought it was perfect when he’d found the tutorial online: a handmade, thoughtful gift that wouldn’t be too hard for him to make. Bucky knew now that knitting was far harder than it looked, having used two balls of red and gold yarn with nothing but knots to show for it. 

Maybe he could sharpen the knitting needles into knives and give those to Tony for Christmas, instead. Maybe they’d even look like what they were supposed to look like, unlike his “scarf”. 

Bucky cast an angry glare at the tangle of string and considered giving up entirely. But he thought of how much work Tony did for him on a daily basis, without any special occasion, and started gently working through the knot. He’d make the damn scarf or die trying, he decided.

Though one option was looking more and more likely than the other.

“Why is this so hard?” he whined, tossing the failed project to the side. It landed somewhere on the ground, because that was how his luck was going. He was expecting JARVIS’s coolly reassuring snark to respond, so he almost jumped out of his skin when another voice answered instead.

“That’s what she said,” Tony snickered like the twelve year old he was. Bucky was glad he’d thrown his ball of yarn when Tony came to sit next to him. He wanted the scarf to be a surprise. “What are you up to, Buckaroo?”

“Nothing,” Bucky lied easily. With his foot, he kicked the yarn ball and knitting needles under the sofa. “Just debating whether or not I should take a nap.”

“A question of grave importance,” Tony nodded seriously. He didn’t appear to have seen, so Bucky breathed out a sigh of relief. “What did you end up deciding?”

Bucky slung an arm around Tony’s waist, pulling him close and laying them both down on their sides. “Shh,” he said, wrapping around Tony like a limpet. He pressed a soft kiss to the crown of Tony’s head. “It’s naptime.”

“Fine,” Tony hummed, snuggling even closer. He yawned adorably. “But only because I was going to sleep anyway.”

Bucky closed his eyes, letting thoughts of failed knitting projects slip away in favor of focusing on the warm weight of Tony in his arms. He didn’t realize how tired he was until he was halfway to sleeping. He’d finish the scarf tomorrow, he decided. For now, he had a boyfriend to cuddle and a nap to take.

\---

Bucky was wondering if it was too late to give his boyfriend a coupon for one contracted murder for Christmas. He was obviously better at that than knitting, and he figured he should stick to his talents. He could even make it festive!

He’d been up all night knitting. At four in the morning, the scarf hadn’t looked that bad. But on Christmas morning, faced with the prospect of actually  _ giving  _ it to Tony, Bucky wasn’t sure he’d ever made anything worse. 

There were lumps in places there shouldn’t have been lumps, and one end was thicker than the other. The red and gold pattern he’d tried to knit came out jumbled and wrong because of all of the gaps in the scarf. He hadn’t meant for one end to have tassels, but somehow, it did. To top it all off, it didn’t look like it was long enough.

Bucky balled it up in his hand, intending to throw it away. It wasn’t like he could actually give it to Tony. Tony was sure to have made him something wonderful and thoughtful and perfect, and all he had was a shitty tangle of yarn masquerading as a scarf. Bucky felt like a horrible boyfriend.

Besides, Tony was probably used to designer scarves. He always dressed to impress when he was outside of the Tower; what possible use could he have for a scarf that looked like it was made by a three year old? It wasn’t like he’d be able to wear it anywhere.

Lost in thought, Bucky didn’t hear Tony come in. He rarely did these days; Tony didn’t set off the same  _ danger!  _ alarms in his head like other people did, so unless Bucky was listening for him, his footsteps tended to fade into white noise.

“Merry Christmas, darling,” Tony greeted, voice hoarse from sleep. He padded into their living room in bare feet and holiday-themed pajamas, which Bucky found unfairly adorable. “You didn’t come to bed last night, which is a shame, because you missed out on a pretty great gift.”

Bucky bent down to kiss Tony. “Sorry, babe,” he said, trying and failing to think of an excuse. In the end, he settled on the truth. “I was finishing up your present and lost track of time.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Tony flushed. There was a pleased smile on his face, though, that gave Bucky confidence.

“Yeah, but I wanted to,” he said, handing Tony the balled up scarf. “It’s not great, I know, but I hope you like it anyway.”

Bucky didn’t look at Tony’s face, scared of his reaction. There was a long silence after Tony took the scarf, turning it over in his hands, unrolling it. He ran a tentative hand over the clumsy knitting. When he started sniffling, Bucky looked up, concerned.

There were tears forming in Tony’s eyes. Bucky cursed himself; he should’ve known the scarf wouldn’t go over well. He opened his mouth to apologize, but Tony stopped him with a raised hand.

“Don’t be an idiot,” he said, wiping his eyes. He slung the scarf around his neck. “I love it. I’m never taking it off.”

“You’re crying,” Bucky said dumbly. His head was spinning. “What’s wrong?”

Tony gave him a look, but it was less effective with the mess of a scarf and his Christmas sweater. “Happy tears,” he promised. He ran a hand through his hair as Bucky patiently waited for an explanation. “It’s just… no one’s ever made me a present before, you know that? Everyone always assumes I want something expensive or fancy. But this? You put time and effort and  _ love  _ into this scarf, and it was just a lot of feelings before coffee that I was not expecting.” Tony leaned in for a sweet kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Bucky rested his forehead against Tony’s. “And if it’s badly knitted scarves that make you happy, well, I bought way too much wool at the craft store and I have to use it somehow.”

Tony beamed at him. “It’s good practice,” he teased. “Merry Christmas, Bucky.”

Bucky couldn’t help but grin back. He grabbed Tony by his scarf and dragged him into another kiss, a little less sweet than the first. “Merry Christmas, Tony.”

(True to his promise, Tony went to his next Board meeting in an expensive suit and Bucky’s shitty scarf. Pepper, seeing how happy it made him, didn’t even yell at him for it. Bucky had to draw the line, though, when Iron Man tried to go to battle in it. There were some things the world didn’t need to see.)

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos make me smile :))
> 
> yell at me on tumblr [@imposter-human](https://imposter-human.tumblr.com/)


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